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The Struggle to Reclaim Pride - 2018

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Published: 26 June 2018

9PM Tuesday, 6/26/2018 on WBAI (99.5FM and wbai.org):

Tonight we devote the show to coverage and commentary on the NY City Heritage of Pride March, the Dyke March, Trans Day of Action and Drag March. After the news we'll begin with an interview with Brandon Cuicchii from Reclaim Pride.

Below you will find video coverage of the 2000 person Reclaim Pride Contingent in Sunday June 24th's Manhattan March (click lower right for full size). Sound files for all the parts of the show are posted, as is the full show. All are downloadable.

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Members of the Reclaim Pride Coalition have struggled for months to convince Heritage of Pride, the group that runs the LGBTQ Pride march in NY city every year, to make the march reflect the interests and needs of the local queer community.

The struggle has been simmering for decades with many members of the LGBT community outraged at how corporations are using the march for their own branding and the angry the Pride March was becoming less and less progressive every year. Last year a renewed effort was launched in several cities that was critical not only over the large corporate presence but also the increasing police presence. The police have been using barricades to prevent on-lookers from joining the march. In the earlier years

of the movement, marchers would call on the on-lookers to join them in the streets and contingents would fill up rapidly. This year the plan was to completely control who could march, not only would groups pay for every member that marched, but everyone that march had to have a wrist band to enter. Heritage of Pride was open about trying to reduce the presence of the community saying that they and the police thought the march was too long. Heritage of Pride refused to allow the Reclaim Pride coalition, composed of many organizations, to have a contingent saying it had too many members.

At a town hall organized by Heritage of Pride organizers, members of the Reclaim Pride coalition expressed frustration with the march route, which was radically different from previous marches. The police wanted a different route and claimed it was better from a counter terrorism point of view. Members of the crowd were angry the police were using the communities safety as a way of curtailing the LGBT communities rights. In the end Relaim Pride was allowed to march as a group very late in the day after ABC cameras had left.